Urdu Couplet Of The Day - 24
mera zameer bahut hai mujhe sazaa ke liye
tu dost hai tau nasihat na kar Khuda ke liye
--Shaaz Tamkanath (1933-85)
मेरा ज़मीर बहुत है मुझे सज़ा के लिए
तू दोस्त है तो नसीहत न कर ख़ुदा के लिए
My conscience (zameer) is enough to punish me
If you are my friend, do not offer advice (nasihat) for God’s sake...
The shair is straightforward and is not layered or complex. This simplicity is quite typical of Shaaz’s work as this other shair from another Ghazal suggests:
yahi bahut hai zamaane meiN chaar din ke liye/
agar hayaat kaTay ek hum_Khayaal ke saath
यही बहुत है ज़माने में चार दिन के लिए
अगर हयात कटे एक हम ख़याल के साथ
Shaaz Tamkanath was one of Hyderabad’s popular poets at Mushairas all over India. A fine poet of both the Ghazal and nazm forms, Shaaz started out as a faculty member in the Department of Urdu at Anwarul Uloom College in Hyderabad. Later, he joined the Department of Urdu, Osmania University and taught at Arts College and Nizam College in Hyderabad. His life and career, as a poet, scholar and teacher, were tragically cut short by alcoholism which led to cirrhosis of the liver. After Makhdoom Mohiuddin, Shaaz stands out as the finest poet of recent times, among poets of Hyderabad.
